City of Richmond Challenges Building Owners to Benchmark their Energy Use

The City of Richmond has joined the growing number of municipalities asking their commercial and institutional customers to benchmark Energy Consumption. The well-worn adage ‘You can’t manage what you can’t measure’ is certainly true when it comes to the reduction of energy and greenhouse gasses. Benchmarking has been gaining significant traction in the United States, with notable examples being New York City, Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, Boston and Washington, D.C. Boston’s program statement, estimates a total annual reduction of 46,700 tons of CO2 through benchmarking, equivalent to the emissions of over 6,000 single families.

While voluntary, much like Vancouver’s 2014 initiative, these types of programs indicate a growing movement towards the measurement necessary to achieve climate action goals in the lower mainland. Building owner’s who take part in the Benchmarking Program will get valuable insights into how their building(s) perform against other facilities and the potential opportunities for energy reduction. Specific training will also be provided for operations staff by the City of Richmond, including:

SES has a wealth of experience with portfolio manager, energy monitoring, and energy conservation. If you’re a Richmond Building owner looking for more information, please drop us a line and we’d be glad to help.